40 true or false quiz questions

Forty statements — some true, some myths. Four rounds of ten, each with the explanation behind the answer. Tap Show answer to check each one.

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Round 1: Animals and nature

True or false: Isaac Newton discovered penicillin.
Show answer
False
Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928.
True or false: A group of lions is called a pride.
Show answer
True
Lions live in family groups called prides.
True or false: The blue whale is a type of fish.
Show answer
False
The blue whale is a mammal: it breathes air and feeds its young on milk.
True or false: Humans lived at the same time as Tyrannosaurus rex.
Show answer
False
T. rex died out about 66 million years ago, long before the first humans appeared.
True or false: Wild penguins live in the Arctic.
Show answer
False
Wild penguins live almost entirely in the Southern Hemisphere; none live in the Arctic.
True or false: Hummingbirds can fly backwards.
Show answer
True
Hummingbirds can hover and genuinely fly backwards, which almost no other birds can do.
True or false: An owl can turn its head all the way round, a full 360 degrees.
Show answer
False
Owls can turn their heads about 270 degrees, not a full circle.
True or false: A bolt of lightning is hotter than the surface of the Sun.
Show answer
True
Lightning can heat the air to around 30,000 °C, about five times hotter than the Sun's surface.
True or false: In botanical terms, a banana is a berry.
Show answer
True
Botanically a banana is a berry: a fleshy fruit from a single flower with one ovary.
True or false: There is no gravity on board the International Space Station.
Show answer
False
Gravity there is about 90% as strong as on the ground; astronauts float because they are constantly falling around Earth.

Round 2: History and places

True or false: Henry VIII had six wives.
Show answer
True
Henry VIII married six times, from Catherine of Aragon to Catherine Parr.
True or false: Snowdon is the highest mountain in England.
Show answer
False
Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) is in Wales; England's highest mountain is Scafell Pike.
True or false: Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in the British Isles.
Show answer
True
Ben Nevis, near Fort William, stands 1,345 metres high.
True or false: Queen Victoria reigned for longer than Queen Elizabeth II.
Show answer
False
Victoria reigned for 63 years; Elizabeth II reigned for 70 years.
True or false: Mount Everest sits on the border between Nepal and China.
Show answer
True
Everest lies on the border between Nepal and the Tibet region of China.
True or false: Hadrian's Wall marks the modern border between England and Scotland.
Show answer
False
Hadrian's Wall lies entirely in England, south of the modern border.
True or false: The River Nile flows from south to north.
Show answer
True
The Nile flows north and empties into the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt.
True or false: John o' Groats is the most northerly point of mainland Britain.
Show answer
False
Dunnet Head, a few miles west of John o' Groats, is the most northerly point of mainland Britain.
True or false: Australia is wider from east to west than the Moon's diameter.
Show answer
True
Australia spans about 4,000 km east to west; the Moon is about 3,475 km across.
True or false: Winston Churchill won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Show answer
True
Churchill was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953.

Round 3: Myths and food

True or false: Bats are blind.
Show answer
False
All bats can see; many also use echolocation to hunt in the dark.
True or false: A tomato is a fruit in botanical terms.
Show answer
True
Tomatoes develop from the flower and contain seeds, so botanically they are fruit.
True or false: Bulls are angered by the colour red.
Show answer
False
Bulls are red-green colour-blind; they react to the movement of the cape, not its colour.
True or false: Haggis is traditionally cooked in a sheep's stomach.
Show answer
True
Traditional haggis is sheep's offal, oatmeal and spices cooked in a sheep's stomach.
True or false: Camels store water in their humps.
Show answer
False
A camel's hump stores fat, not water.
True or false: Cracking your knuckles causes arthritis.
Show answer
False
Studies have found no link between knuckle cracking and arthritis; the sound comes from gas bubbles in the joint fluid.
True or false: Albert Einstein failed maths at school.
Show answer
False
Einstein excelled at maths and had mastered calculus by about 15.
True or false: Scotch whisky is spelt without an 'e'.
Show answer
True
Scotch is spelt 'whisky', while Irish whiskey is spelt with an 'e'.
True or false: In botanical terms, a peanut is a nut.
Show answer
False
Peanuts are legumes, related to peas and beans, and grow underground.
True or false: Sherlock Holmes says 'Elementary, my dear Watson' in Arthur Conan Doyle's stories.
Show answer
False
That exact phrase never appears in Conan Doyle's original Sherlock Holmes stories.

Round 4: True or false mix

True or false: The Beatles came from Liverpool.
Show answer
True
The Beatles formed in Liverpool and took the name The Beatles in 1960.
True or false: A cricket team has 12 players on the field.
Show answer
False
A cricket team has 11 players on the field.
True or false: Keith Richards was the lead singer of the Rolling Stones.
Show answer
False
Mick Jagger is the Stones' lead singer; Keith Richards is the guitarist.
True or false: One of the seven dwarfs in Disney's 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is called Smiley.
Show answer
False
The dwarfs are Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy and Dopey.
True or false: An adult human skeleton usually has 206 bones.
Show answer
True
A typical adult skeleton has 206 bones.
True or false: Toronto is the capital of Canada.
Show answer
False
Ottawa, in Ontario, is the capital of Canada.
True or false: The appendix is on the left-hand side of the body.
Show answer
False
The appendix is in the lower right of the abdomen.
True or false: The UK switched to decimal currency in 1971.
Show answer
True
Decimal Day, when the UK moved to 100 pence in a pound, was 15 February 1971.
True or false: The national animal of Scotland is the unicorn.
Show answer
True
The unicorn has been used in Scottish royal heraldry since at least the 15th century and is widely recognised as Scotland's national animal.
True or false: The distress signal SOS stands for 'Save Our Souls'.
Show answer
False
SOS was chosen because it is easy to send in Morse code; 'Save Our Souls' was added later.

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